A guide for Vacuform Kits
Expanded and corrected version (June 2001).
By Diego Fernetti ()

As a WW1 modeler, I've always been intrigued by vacuform kits, since this process of manufacturing a scale model is specially suited to portray the early aeroplanes. During the 80s, there was a boom in vacuform manufacturing and WW1modelling was greatly benefited.
Here are  a compilation of known kits offered, besides some notes on the known manufacturers of vac kits, wich are the best and wich I have to avoid, since quality and engineering of the models, even in the same brand, varies greatly.
Some of the kits were just announced but nothing else was heard of them later, so I'd ask to the readers to drop me a note if you know that some of these were never released. Several of the entries include notes and comments on the particular kit, and there are some links to other sites wich I considered relevant or to show how the completed model looks like, but you may need to scroll down those pages to view the model noted in the title.
Good Hunting!

DISCLAIMER
I don't sell models nor advertise any particular manufacturer,
so please don't ask me for purchasing kits or items from this list.
Thanks!

List of Manufacturers  (browse or click on each name)

Aeroclub | Airframe | Akita | Black Knight | Bluprint Models | Blue Rider | C. A. Atkins | Classic Plane | Contrail | Cramer | D & M Dane Plane | Eastern Star | Eagles Talon | Esoteric | Expo Model | Falcon | Formaplane | ID Models | J &L | Joystick | Koster Aero Enterprises | Libramodels | Lone Star Models | Marco's Miniatures | Phoenix | Rareplanes | Roseplane | Rudel | Sanger | Scaleplanes | Sierra Scale | Skuld | Tom's Modelworks | Vac Wings |  Veeday | Velocette | Veterans 72 | V.L.E. Models | Warbirds | W.K  | Wings 48 | Wings 72 | Xtravac |

Aeroclub:
Excellent quality. Only a couple of OT vacs issued so far, quality reasonable for a first attempt. No decals, but their white metal is the best.

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Airframe:
It's not known if Airframe line is still on production (). The kits are made of thin plastic over male molds, so there's usually soft surface detail, but the basic shapes are there. No decals. The wings are typically molded in upper and lower surfaces with thick rib lines wich aren't accurate at all. If you don't mind a lot of scratchbuilding, they can still be a source of modeling enjoyment.

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Akita:
No further data available.

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Black Knight:
Related to Contrail Models. White metal detail parts and decals included

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Bluprint Models:
Mike Ridlon's company, recently has reissued the out of production line of Marco's Miniatures kits. you can contact him through or snail mail at: Bluprint Models Box 332 Pelham N.H. 03076, U.S.A.

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Blue Rider:
Decent quality. However, the "older", full kits seem nice..

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C. A. Atkins:
Middling to good quality. Very nice kits with PE and WM bits. 

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Classic Plane:
Very accurate, but the older ones are pretty crude. No decals, some of the later ones have resin parts. Only marginally inferior to Roseplane and Sierra Scale. Well priced, lately they're converting the former vacuform line to resin models, so get yours ASAP. The Floh and the Albatros D1 were both very good. However his Berg D1, the DH1a and 1-1/2 Strutter aren't the same. They have a website.

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Contrail:
No further data available.

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Cramer
On the lower end of quality. Too bad they have released a lot of interesting subjects!

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D & M Dane Plane:
Just the one issued, unusual danish type. 

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Eagles Talon:
They don't bring decals or resin/metal detail parts. Nice references though.

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Eastern Star:
Very nice vac with metal detail bits.

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Esoteric:
No further data available.

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Expo Model:
Just one kit of a bizarre experimental fighter.

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Falcon:
A mixed bag, since some releases are better than others. Big scale models. 

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Formaplane:
Some excellent and some really poor, as the master builders were different. Quality amongst different examples of the same kits is uneven, but you can be sure that those signed with a small "JC" (standing for Joe Chubbock) in it are excellent. No decals nor separate detail parts, but some extruded material for struts are supplied.

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J &L:
Moderate quality, no decals but they included rubber tyres.

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ID Models:
They are basic and not very accurate.

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Joystick:
Extensive line of subjects that can be worked up to good models. Some kits will make you spend a lot of work on, since the detail is very soft, and a couple of them are littered with "pip" marks (however these are easy to clean up) and these have the best surface detail since the "pips" are intended to improve female molding. Usually they bring decals.

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Koster Aero Enterprises:
Great kits that usually consist of vacuform, resin, white metal, photo-etch and provides nice decals too. If Aeroclub is the Rolls-Royce of vacs, and Falcon is the Bentley, KAE is the restored Duesenberg-J of vacuforms, at least for the stuff from the last 10 years. GreatModels Webstore carries this stuff.

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Libramodels:
Superb, sharply formed little vacs on quite thick sheet and accurately mastered. All included metal (Aeroclub) details, strut materials and decals. 

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Lone Star Models:
Vacuform and resin components. These range from "improvement needed" to "acceptable". His stuff is worth checking out and some of these kits are very comprehensive.

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Marco's Miniatures:
These large scale kits  were marketed by 4 Star Collectibles in the past and now are reissued by Bluprint Models. They had resin details, large decal sheets, photoetched bits, veneer for making one's own prop should one choose not to use the resin one provided. They can provide hundreds of hours of nerve-wrecking fun and they also had add-on resin kits of 1/24 figures: pilots, ground crew and even a german sheperd dog! 

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Phoenix:
Minor "pips" that cleaned up easily, decent decals and reasonable surface detail. Issued twice, once without and once with metal parts.

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Rareplanes:
Reasonable quality, their Gotha is very good. Now out of production.

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Roseplane:
Very good quality. They supply a lot of the smaller parts in resin. Those still on production can be bought from Barry Stettler at Rosemont Hobby Shop.

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Rudel:
No further data available.

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Sanger (ex Contrail):
Not too good, as a rule. Need a lot of building, they have double surface wings and tailplanes but  the tops don't match the bottoms.

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Scaleplanes:
These kits to vary from extremely difficult to nearly impossible. Re-issued ex Libramodels Bantam, Bristol Scout and DH.5.

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Sierra Scale:
Good quality. The surface detail on Sierra vacs is well executed. Construction shouldn't be hard because the plastic they're made from is pretty thick, therefore good as a starting point for a vac-builder. Sierra's vac parts include bulkheads and formers, the struts are also on the vac sheet. The Aeroclub white metal detail bits are nice, but the Sierra injected bits look crude. It seems that the semi opaque plastic makes the pieces look bad, but they're OK. They have their own website

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Skuld:
Kits from France, somewhat basic female moldings, provides some metal details but no decals.

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Tom's Modelworks:
 The earlier releases were quite good, but it seems that they have declined. Some of their former vac kits have been converted to resin kits. Known for its excellent photoetched detail bits, they have their own website.

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Vac Wings:
No further data available.

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Veeday:
No further data available.

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Velocette:
No further data available.

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Veterans 72:
Issued several vacforms before going on to resin. Mostly French a/c and fairly basic, their metal bits are bad. 

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V.L.E. Models:
High quality vacs with metal parts, but not recommended for beginners to vacforms, very complex subjects. They have only two early aircraft kits to date, and one more if you can consider the Farman bomber into the realms of WW1.They have their own website

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Warbirds:
Another out of production, of reasonable quality. These kits are surprisingly nice considering when they were released.

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W.K. Models:
No further data available.

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Wings 48:
Very good quality. No kit list available to date, they possibly have similar subjects that the WIngs 72 series.

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Wings 72:
Very soft detail that will take some work, but they have nice intruction sheets and plans.

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Xtravac:
Very nice quality. Excellent detail with separate resin bits (resin bits are now available through Paragon)

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Aknowledgements:

I've compiled these comments of vac kits from the knowledgeable WW1 Modelling Mail List members posts, some modeller's websites and from some modelling magazines. Without their collaboration I wouldn't have learned so much about this particular form of producing a scale kit, wich adapts so well to the characteristics of the early flying machines. All the mistakes or errors that can be found on this article should be atributed to me.
I also want to thank the help given by Steve Schofield, Andrei Koribanics and Wanda Due�as, who helped me to type all these boring lists.